Best Jazz Guitar Under $1000

[Papawooly]

Epiphone "Dot" ... Unreal guitar, got mine for $200 plays and SOUNDS as sweet as a 335
Epiphone ES-175 ... Another unbelievable guitar, this one set me back $300

[Brian B]

The only Epi Dots for $200 I've ever come across have been the Dot Studios, so good score there.

$300 for an Epi 175? Even better. I paid $500 for my ZepReg and feel like I got a bargain.

[Steve Card]

I've had an Epiphone Joe pass for ten yrs, and a Godin 5th Ave for 3 yrs. Both guitars are great, with a few drawbacks.
Both guitars have thin bodies, so if you want a loud acoustic, I would shop thicker bodies. I'm a lefty, and both guitars had lefty versions without having to special order, so I lucked out getting two guitars without playing them, and being completely satisfied with both.
The Joe pass is heavier with a thick finish, and the acoustic sound takes some coaxing. Plugged in it is amazingly clear, and articulate. With a clean amp setting, and a little chorus, you can get the chiming affects that really get an audiences attention.
The 5th Avenue is a light guitar, with an almost natural finish, and has some feedback issues. It is a very sweet sounding guitar when you get your amp settings to your liking. When I'm sitting around the house, playing acoustic, I prefer the 5th Ave.
The necks are quite different, with the Joe Pass again being heavier and with a thick finish, and the 5th Ave. lighter with a natural finish, and also a more retro style. Both necks are definitely designed differently, and both being quite easy to get accustomed to, so personal preference would be the deciding factor.
To me string selection is a very important factor, with a semihollow or archtop guitar, I use light strings, and would suggest trying both electric, and super light acoustic strings, and also if you have a heavy fretting hand, get flat wound strings, the dragging sound of chord changes can get irritating, if you tend to drag your fingers through chord changes.
I have two jazz songs, in my shopping repertoire, Summertime, and Take Five, pick a few songs that you like, so when shopping, you have a good idea of the sound your looking for.
I have also heard the Telecaster Thinline Semihollow has been used by quite a few jazz players over the years, I believe they start at about $400.00 U.S.
Good luck, practice, practice, practice.
Last thought, my playing, actually improved immediately after I started learning piano, on an inexpensive Casio, that my Grand Daughter brought with her, when she stayed for a summer vacation a few years back.

Steve Cardenaz

[jzucker]

Bar none, used Aria Herb Ellis model from the '80s. Typically $850-$1000.

It rivals the gibson 175 with even better quality control. Wish I still had mine but sold it to a student.

[rolijen]

Sorry to re-ignite an old thread, but I needed to support the modern Epiphone Broadway as a nice option for achieving classic jazz tone for a low amount of money. If you’re buying new, I recommend trying a few as some of the newer builds coming out of China have super skinny neck profiles. A Broadway with a good neck carve is a treat. They are laminated guitars with fairly thick poly finshes, so as others have pointed out, the modern Broadway is no L-5. But, they sound amazing plugged in. Playability is great and that neck pickup belts out fat jazz tone in buckets. I replaced a few parts to pretty mine up a bit, but, honestly, it was just fine the way it came from the factory. The pickups are fine, the tuners are fine. The only thing I dislike about this budget 25.5” scaled beauty is the crazy tailpiece. I know it’s historically correct, but it’s hard to get A and D strings long enough to fit this guitar well. TI JS113s fit just barely. Still, this is the guitar I would buy if I were just starting out.

[rolijen]

I added some pics. Only changes are pickguard and tuner buttons. I just love this guitar. Punches way above its weigh IMO.








Roli

[Biggreg]

Hello. I'm a lover of cheap Jazz guitars and I've had a few, many under a $1000 bucks. What I found, its all about the tone and playability that really counts and it has to "fit" your ear!. But my chooses are. The Ibanez line of Archtops. many of these can be had between $400 and $1500 dollars. Ibanez has a lot of nice Jazz guitars, and they been building them for a long while. However, I don't care for their semi-hollow bodies. They all sound way too thin and bright for my liking. I've owed about 9 assorted Ibanez guitars. Some have been great, other not so great and sometimes the workmanship can have small, but noticeable blemishes. For semi-hollows take a look at the Epiphone line. They have some good ones. I own a new Epiphone ES339 (small body) and I really like it.

Also, don't to afraid to look outside the main stream. They are some great guitars out there. For a Arch-top, I highly recommend the Eastman AR403ce and the solid top AR503ce, both under a grand. one more thing. Try and find a seller with a good return policy. So if you don't like it-return it.

Wish you luck. lets us know what you decided on.....

[patshep]

just this week i bought a used Comins GCS-1, under $1000 used.



Also got a used Ibanez AS180 and both are really nice, and totally different jazz sounds.

[rdwhitti]

I really love my Eastman AR403CE and it definitely makes me want to play more. I got mine new for $750 with case and that to me is a bargain.

[electricfactory]

Epiphone ES-175 Premium
Eastman T386, T486
Epiphone ES-335 and it's variants.

All three of these guitars are excellent, upgradable if desired and the Eastman has a beautiful thin nitro finish- !!!!

Epiphone "Dot" ... Unreal guitar, got mine for $200 plays and SOUNDS as sweet as a 335
Epiphone ES-175 ... Another unbelievable guitar, this one set me back $300

[Robert1950]

Epiphone Broadway new will cost $999Cdn without case and before taxes Same for the Epi ES175, which is on sale at the moment. Usually $1099Cdn.

[echos]

So I’m new to the jazz guitar scene. I’m been trying some chord melody and really like it. I find it is a lot more relaxing to me than what I normally play.

I'm looking to purchase a true jazz guitar. Hollow or maybe semi hollow. Budget is $1000 at top end. I’m good with Gibson or Fender scale. Strongly prefer neck only Humbucker.

I’ve targeted a few in the for sale subforum. Out of respect to them I’d rather not ask specifically about them in this thread. Would anybody be willing to look over my short list and give some thoughts?

thanks.

[citizenk74]

List away! You have already narrowed the field by specifying one pup. If it's one thing we love to talk about here, it's jazz guitars!

[rob taft]

As Citizen74 says, just list them in a post. I would also suggest you provide some info regarding the type of tone you like e.g. Early Joe Pass type of tone, Wes Montgomery, Martin Taylor etc. as some guitars are better suited than others if you are searching for a particular type of tone/sound.

[SoftwareGuy]

Hi,

I was in the same situation. I was starting to do the chord melody thing. I had a standard acoustic guitar and several solid bodies (with single coil pick ups). I didn't seem to have the 'sound' that people got doing chord melody.

My then guitar teacher pointed out that strats are not the typical guitar people play. I went down the semi-hollow path. Several guitar and years went by. To make a long story short, I now own an archtop (a Collings Eastside) and it is my 'number one' and does really sound good.

However, I regularly play other guitars because of the various limitation of the Eastside.I believe that anything I could call my chord melody sound is associated with how I play and not the guitar.

The Eastside is expensive and really a one trick pony. It sounds very acoustic, which is good, but is not flexible. It has one (nice) sound.

Like I said, It is my number one guitar, but

1) It is uncomfortable to play standing up
2) Has limited upper neck access
3) Has smaller frets than I would like
4) Is limited in the type and gauge of strings (because of the fixed bridge)
5) I am sick and tired (in general) with guitars that don't have locking tuners

Not to mention the colors available (mostly brown) are limited.

After spending a bunch of money (and had fun along the way) I learned that while different guitars provide you with a different sonic palette, the sound that is 'you' will be in your playing. My chord melody thing sounded more 'realistic' when I got more experience with that kind of playing, not when I got a specific guitar.

Have fun with you new selection.

[echos]

Okay. I’m really looking for a warm tone, nobody in particular.

short list is
Epiphone ES 175 $675
eastman Norman brown- $1200 maybe less
Eastman AR371CE-$600
Eastman AR 610CE-upgraded Armstrong pup. $925

lastly...there is a Soloway Swan on reverb. I know Jim has a great reputation so I know it would be the best built out of all of these...but more $ than I’d like to spend....but more important, I’m afraid of the 27” scale. No way to try before you buy. I don’t have small hands but they are not mitts either. The stretch to get chords in the first few frets has me worried.

[fep]

I had a Soloway that was bright sounding, of course that can be knocked down with the tone control. I think the brightness came from the bare knuckle pickup. It was a beauty, I'm selling guitars and scaling down, the most valuable ones are the ones I'm selling first, thus the Soloway. The Soloway was great for what I was doing at the time, it has a wider neck that fingerstyle players, especially those that like a wide classical guitar setup, might prefer. I was playing it with a light touch fingerstyle, kind of like Jim Soloway does.

Here's what the Soloway sounded like (my tune Dry Creek Road):

[fep]

My Eastman 803 CE has a much warmer sound than the Soloway. I put flatwound 12s on the Eastman (the Soloway had roundwound, maybe 11s if memory serves)

Here's a little thing I recorded to demo the sound of that:

Box

[rob taft]

The Eastman Norman Brown is basically a AR503CE

The Eastman 610CE with stock pickup is below

[coolvinny]

I vote Eastman AR371CE. I had one and it was very nice. Plenty loud enough to practice unplugged too.

[Chazmo]

When choosing your first jazz guitar it is critical to decide whether you like a fixed pickup or a floating pickup. In your shortlist you have both. They're both great, but they do sound different.

[rpjazzguitar]

My view is that it is difficult to tell from a brief trial how you're going to feel about the guitar over months and years.

It is possible to play great jazz on any type of guitar. You can get a very good sound out of a broad range of instruments.

If you have a very particular sound in mind, that can narrow the field.

In a field of guitars of high enough quality to intonate properly, hold tune and so forth, I'd offer the following.

The first thing I look for is a comfortable neck. So, I think the ergonomics are primary. You can change a lot of things, but you probably don't want to swap out a neck and you aren't going to make a fat body into a thin one. It has to feel good, and if you're not sure, buy with a return privilege.

But it's hard to tell how a guitar will feel after you adjust the setup to your liking. String gauge and action make a big difference in feel

After that, it's probably sound. Also complicated. You'll probably try it with one amp, but, sometimes, a guitar will sound better with a different one. Or different settings. Great players usually sound like themselves whatever guitar they're using, but, that said, I never heard anybody get Wes' sound without an L5.

You may love the sound of an archtop in the store or in your practice room. But, when you have to play it loud, you're going to have to deal with controlling feedback. Some players succeed with that, but I know one top pro who plays solid body guitars because of archtop feedback.

I once thought you could get pretty much any sound out of any guitar with a similar pickup type (single coil vs hb). I no longer think that. There's a sound an archtop can get that a solid can't. But, classic jazz tones, or close, have been obtained from Strats, Teles, Les Pauls, Jazzmasters, you name it.

I recommend taking some time to think about how you believe a guitar SHOULD sound. The answer to that question will be a sound very close to your heart. Then, try them out, pick one that has great ergonomics and sounds like your dream. Nobody else can tell you which one is best for you. And, of course, the sound is likely to evolve and you'll want another guitar. So maybe consideration of resale value has to be part of it, depending on your situation.

[cosmic gumbo]

Ted Greene, Tim Lerch, and others have shown us that you can make a telecaster sound like an archtop with a humbucker if you try. Get the guitar that inspires you to play the most.

[echos]

Thank you for those clips. Hearing them one after another I do like the 803 better. Nice playing.

[echos]

Thank you for pointing out a difference here. I do prefer the sound of the mounted pickup. So that will help me out moving forward.

I’ll also say I use an Ax Fx 2 for my amps. So I have a LOT of choices on that front. It sure it would sound right with a Mesa or Soldano amp though.